Effective temperature in the quench of coarsening systems to and below $T_C$

Abstract

We overview the general scaling behavior of the effective temperature in the que nches of simple non disordered systems, like ferromagnets, to and below $T_C$. Emphasis is on the behavior as d imensionality is varied. Consequences on the shape of the asymptotic parametric representation are derived. In particu lar, this is always trivial in the critical quenches with $T_C>0$. We clarify that the quench to $T_C=0$ at the lower critical dimensionality $d_L$, cannot be regarded as a critical quench. Implications for the behavior of the exponent $a$ of the aging response function in the quenches below $T_C$ are developed.